Feature

GICs Grow Up

Now called stable-value funds, they offer principal protection, more
yield

With interest rates at 40-year lows, money-market funds have been about as alluring as the dark side of the mattress. Indeed, investors have yanked a gargantuan $105 billion out of taxable money funds so far this year, redistributing a sizable chunk of this cash to higher-yielding fixed-income funds and investments.

Another chunk appears to have been redirected to stable-value funds -- hybrid yield-and-principal products, whose description alone is bound to offer comfort. Yet, stable-value funds are nothing fancier than a...